Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 302

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(MAY, 1931
6 Chippaler, close to Zavvaladinne, 26 miles N.N.E. of Nellore. The name Masuli. patam is given as Metchlepotan throughout this account.
7 The writer is somewhat confused here. His "greater rivers" seem to refer to the mouths of the Kistna and his "lesses ones” to the small deltaic channels belonging to the same river.
8 "Cabbage and scapes, from which they are no starters "=cabbage and scapes to which they are constant. For various examples of the obsolete phrase "to be no starter" from 1536-1704, gee the Oxford English Dict., 8.0. Starter. Scape (L. scapus, It. scapo), a flower-stalk, stem, also the shaft of a column (Stormonth's Dict.). The term is perhaps here applied to "root" vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips, as distinct from "greens." 9 The allusion is to Martial's Epigrams, XIII, 92, but the quotation is incorrect. It should run:
Inter quadripedes mattea prima lepus.
10 It was in March, 1679, however, that Streynsham Master visited Dîvî and "went a hunting of wild hoggs" thero (Diaries of Streynsham Master, ed. Temple, II, 139).
11 The writer is wrong. Divi was not " formerly” under the government of the "Moors" (Muhammadans), but under the Nûzvidu Zemindars, for whose history see Mackenzie, Manual of the Kistna Dist., p. 295. The usurping "Rajowe” will be noticed later on.
12 F'or the Nawabs of Masulipatam, see Mackenzie, op. cit., p. 293. 13 ITere the writer seems to have gone back to speak of Divi.
14 Chayroot, Tam. chayavêr, chirval wood (Oldenlandia umbellata), used for dyeing cotton and silk cloths, the colouring matter being in the bark of the root. The Council at Fort St. George, commenting to the Company on the offer made to them of the Island (see below, note 18), remarked : "The Island is very fertile and productive of a great many valuable things, particu
larly the best Chay root in great quantitys, and the water is incomparably good
for painting.' 15 Peddapalle in TenAli taluk, Guntur District. The English had a factory at the neighbouring village of Nizâmpatam, known as Pettipolee Factory, up to 1687, when it was abandoned. (See Diaries of Streynsham Master, II, 136, n. 7, 138, n. 2.)
16 Tegnapatam (Tam. Têvenámbattanam), the native name of the site of Fort St. David, where the Dutch had a factory.
17 Inzaram (see ante, note 3) is now, however, not an island, but is situated near the mouth of the Godivari river. An English factory was established there in 1708.
18 By "Rajowe Oppero" Rajah Appa Rao, one of the Nûzvidu Zemindars, is apparently meant. The title Appa Rao was conferred on Appanna (Vijaya, the Victorious '), a noted member of the family, in 1667, after which date it was used to designate all the Nûzvidu Zeminders. See Mackenzie, op. cit., p. 296.
This particular Appa Rao, however, seems to have been a usurper, for the Council of Fort St. George, in their General Letter to the Company of 14 October 1712 (Despatches to England, 1711.14, p. 55), wrote as follows:
“We have had an offer made us of Due Island near Metchlepatam by one Upperow,
a Gentue freebooter that has possession of it at present, and wants our force to maintain him in it. We returnd him a very civill answer, but did not think it in our power to undertake a thing of this nature without your Honours permission, which would undoubtedly put us to very considerable expences before we should
be able to reap any advantage from it." The offer of the Island was made to the Council of Fort St. George through the "chief Braminy" at Masulipatam and was recorded in Consultation of 17 January 1711/12. The Council was urged "to solicit for it by means of the persons that accompany our present to Court [i.e., to Shah 'Alam) and in the mean] time to send down soldiers and take possession of it." (Diary and Consultation Book of Fort St. George, 1712, p. 8.)